Hitching device.



No, 726,874. F PATBNTED MAY 5 1903.

e. W. CUMMINGS.

HITGHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES UNTTEE STATES Patented May 5, 19031.

GEORGE W. CUMMINGS, OE DETROIT, MICHIGAN.-

HITCHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. "726,874, dated May 5, 1903.

Application filed February 28, 1903. Serial No.145,519. (N0 model.)

T 0 ail whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. CUMMINGS,

a citizen of the United'States, residing at De troit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 'in'Hitching Devices, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to appliances of that class wherein a hitching-weight is employed in combination with a rein or tie-strap for quickly and easily hitching horses and like animals when left standing attached to vehicles, and has for its object, first, to provide a simple, secure, and inexpensive'means of holding and carrying a hitching-weight, so that it can readily and with little effort be deposited upon the ground and withdrawn therefrom, and, second, to dispense with the use of ratchets, springs, and the like. I attain these objects by the features of construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

In the annexed drawings, constituting a part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a view, partly in perspective and partly in vertical sect-ion, of the retaining socket-plate attached to a portion of the vehicle-bottom. Fig. 3 is a view of the strap-plates.

Similar letters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

A is the bottom of a vehicle, which at any convenient place has an opening cut therethrough, over which'i's secured byany desired means, as by the screws 0, the socketplate B. This plate, as shown, rests upon the top surface of the vehicle-bottom, but may be sunk into the top surface, or, if preferred, secured to the under side of said bottom.

D is an opening cut through the socketplate and has leading from it the slot E in the direction of and intoand across the socket H. This opening is of suflicient size to permit of a free movement up and down of the strap F and to allow the strap-plates attached thereto to pass easily through said opening. The slot E is relatively narrow, so that while it permits of the strap being drawn easily into it the ball part of the strap-plates is securely held by the lips of the slot.

The socket H is formed bya depression made in the plate B at a short distance away from the opening D and.;is preferably made semispherical, though it maybe otherwise shaped without departing from the intended scope of my invention. The slot E, above referred -to'-as leading from the opening B, passes across the bottom of the socket H and is of sufficient length to receive the tie-strap or rein F and to permit the ball part I to drop into said socket, where it is held by gravity acting upon the weight G. The distance between the weight and the strap-stop plates is such that when the stop'is in the socket the weight is suspended and carried free from the ground.

The strap-plates, as shown, consist of the semispherical stop portion--1- and the flange Y portions J. These plates'are fastened to the strap by means of rivets or the like at the holes K. If desired, the flange portions of the plates may be dispensed with and the stop portion used alone. The upward end of the strap F is passed forward and attached to the bit or check of the bridle.

The apparatus as herein described operates as follows: When the vehicle is stopped and it is desired to hitch, the driver takes hold of the strap at a convenient distance above the vehicle-bottom and raises the weight a short distance until the ball or stop is above the rim of the socket, when it is carried sidewise and allowed to pass down through the opening D, the weight being thus deposited on the ground. For unhitching the reversed operation is employed.

Various changes may be made in the detailed construction from the above shown without departing from the intended scope of my invention, which I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, as follows:

1. In a hitching device, the combination of a flexible member'having a'weight at one end and means of attaching to the bridle at the other end and provided with a stop near the weight end, said flexible member passing a flexible member having a stop plate at tached thereto,said plate consisting of the stop part and the strap-protecting flanges, of a weight on one end of the flexible member and means of attachment to the bridle bit or rein at the other, of a socket-plate secured to the bottom of a vehicle box, of an aperture through said plate and bottom for containing said flexible member and allowing it to move readily in said aperture, of a downwardly-depressed socket in said plate and a slot in the bottom of the socket leading into the apertu re so that the flexible member can pass into said slot, the lips of which retain the stop part of the strap-plate, substantially as described.

3. In a hitching device, the combination of a flexible member provided at one end with a means of attachment to the bridle or rein, and to a Weight at the other end, of a stop on said flexible member which is contained within the opening in a plate fastened to the bottom of a vehicle-box, of a downwardly-depressed socket in the plate at a short distance from the opening, of a slot leading from the opening to and across the bottom of the socket, substantially and for the purpose set forth.

4:. In a hitching device, the combination of a strap having a Weight on one end and means of attaching to the bridle bit or rein at the other end, and having a stop member secured to the strap near the weight end, of a plate fastened to the bottom of the vehicle-box, of an aperture in said plate and bottom to contain the strap, of a downwardly-depressed socket in the plate and a slot across the bottom of the socket leading into aperture to re ceive the strap and retain the stop thereon in the said socket, substantially as described.

5. A plate having an opening therethrough, a downwardly-depressed socket in the plate at a short distance from the opening and a slot leading from the opening to and across the bottom of the socket, substantially as described.

6. A plate having an opening theret-hrough, a downwardly-depressed socket in the plate at a short distance from the opening and a slot cut from one side of the opening into the socket, all substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with the bottom of a vehicle box or bed, of a plate member having an opening therethrough to register with an opening in the vehicle-bottom, of a downwardly-depressed socket in said plate and a slot leading from the opening across the bottom of the socket, of a flexible member having a ball stop part attached thereto and means of attaching toa Weight at one end and to the bridle at the other end, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE \V. CUMMINGS.

W'itnesses:

JOSEPH A. WALTER, DAVID N. HARPER. 

